The present invention relates to natural gas piping and, more particularly, in certain embodiments, to assemblies for providing continuous gas flow and associated methods.
To determine the amount of gas a customer consumes, a gas company interposes a gas meter in the gas line leading into each customer's building. The gas meter connects a line leading from a gas supply to a service line extending to the point of use.
The vast majority of meter sets in the United States do not have a bypass and thus require interruption of gas supply when servicing. Furthermore, providing service restoration between any inlet conduit and outlet conduit can also cause an interruption of gas service to the customer. Any interruption in gas service may cause pilot lights to become extinguished requiring the gas company to enter the premises, inspect, and relight the pilot lights. An interrupted gas service typically requires safety inspections and relighting pilot lights which result in increased costs, creates customer inconvenience, and may pose additional safety hazards. In short, interruption to gas service fosters ill will with customers, difficulty in work scheduling, additional work to perform turn-on and service restoration, and requires significant time.